Share Your Shelf #16 & What I Read in July

It's the first Thursday of the month and time for Share Your Shelf with  Marilyn, Jennifer, Tanya, and I. This post and link up are dedicated solely to books and book reviews and it's one I look so forward to each and every month. I am always looking for new and more book ideas.

I had another great month with a very eclectic variety of books where I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite! I read/listened to 12 books and was rather proud of myself that I managed to finish ALL the books I had checked out from our library before they were due back. That doesn't always happen and I had quite a large stack that I never thought I'd make my way through. Of course despite promising myself I'd read the ones I have waiting at home I did find 1 or 2 others to pick up when I dropped the stack of books off but I've still managed to read a few of my own. Have you read anything really great lately?

1. Say You'll Remember Me by Abyy Jimenez-- This was such a sweet story. Samantha and Xavier meet when Sam brings her new kitten in for a vet visit. They end up having one really incredible date and then Samantha leaves for California... for good. Her mom has an advanced case of early onset dementia and Sam is moving home to help her family care for their mom. Samantha and Xavier agree to part as friends but neither one can really stop thinking of the other. They soon fall into a very long distance relationship since Xavier is tied to his newly opened vet clinic in Minnesota and can't up and move and Samantha doesn't ever see herself leaving California or her mom and family. The story was definitely sad at times and you just know these 2 are meant to be together but how could either one of them give up so much for the other? 

 2.  Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos-- I listened to this book on my Libby app. I had no idea it was part of a series until I went to write this review. Written from 3 points of view between Cornelia, Piper and Dev it was an easy story to follow along with. Cornelia and her husband Teo move into a new suburban neighborhood and Cornelia struggles to fit in. Piper, who seems like the meanest, most popular mom in the suburb is struggling with her best friend's cancer diagnosis. Dev is a teenage boy who just moved to the neighborhood with his single mom so he can attend a better school. All 3 of these characters (and Dev's mom Lake too) are hiding secrets and while we get hints of them they are slow to reveal themselves. I did like the story but don't feel the need to read/listen to any others in the series so it wasn't exactly a favorite or gripping novel either. Though it was very enjoyable and rather touching at times. 

 3. The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee-- Oh this was such a good book and it ended on sort of a cliff hanger (well enough of one that I can't wait to read the next book in the series). This book is set in the future and takes place in a giant skyscraper that has a thousand floors. The book starts out with a girl falling from the 1,000th floor and then backtracks a few months prior so we can learn what led up to her death. It's told it multiple points of view-- Avery, the rich perfectly beautiful girl that lives on the thousandth floor, her best friends Leda, a recovering drug addict, Eris, the girl who's life is turned upside down when she has to move down the tower as her family riches are taken away. A maid and a hacker that have been hired by people on the upper floors are thrown into the mix too. Since it's a young adult series all the characters are right around high school age so there is a lot of angst, heartbreak/ unrequited love, and misunderstandings/betrayals. I thought it was a really gripping story. 

 4. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class do Not by Robert T. Kiyosaki--  This was a very interesting book written about investing, growing your money, and spending habits of both the poor and the rich. Kivosaki's own father worked as a professor and spent much of his life trying to get ahead while failing (his poor dad) while his best friend's father worked to build his wealth (his rich dad) and offered to teach Kivosaki and his own son lessons about finances he learned along the way. It was a pretty quick and easy read, and while it was written in the late '90's I still felt like enough of it was still relevant today to make it worthwhile. Though I take much of what he wrote with a bit of skepticism since he himself is billions (with a b!) of dollars in debt. 

 5. Violetta by Isabel Allende-- I loved that this story read more like a memoir than a fiction accounting of a made up life since it is written as if the main character is writing a very long letter to her grandson. Violetta is born during a horrible storm around the same time the Spanish Flu arrives on the shores of her homeland in South America. We learn of her family and what is going on in the world around her through each stage of her life. She was born in 1920 and finishes writing about her life in 2020 so we're taken through 100 year of her life. It was a wonderfully gripping story!

 6. Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady-- A truly adorable book that I read in just under 24 hours. When Josie and Ryan learn that their two competing bookstores are merging into one they find they are in direct competition with one another for the job of manager. Josie's store deals strictly with serious literary works while Ryan's is all about romance. The two main characters have very different personalities to match their very different stores too. They are locked in fierce battle and each rely on their online anonymous friend they "met" on a book forum to get through; neither realizing that they are actually talking to one another. Despite their rivalry neither can really deny the chemistry that sparks when they get within a few feet of one another. This was a really fun enemies to lovers story that Ryan loves to call enemies to friends to lovers. 

 7. Sisters Under the Rising Sun by Heather Morris-- A World War II survivor story about a group of women who survive a ship bombing off the coast of Singapore. Nesta had stayed behind in Singapore with her sick husband and parents after having to put her daughter on a ship with other relatives. As the Japanese move ever closer to Singapore Nesta, her still weakened husband, and Nesta's sister board a ship with a group of Australian nurses. Shortly after leaving the safety of the harbor the ship is bombed and they go down. Nesta, her sister, and the nurses end up being taken to a Japanese POW camp with assorted other people from their ship and the story goes over all that went through during the years of captivity. The author's note in the back was rather gripping too and included stories from the families of the camp's survivors. 

8. Being Henry: The Fonz.. and Beyond by Henry Winkler-- My mom and I started this audiobook together when we went birthdays shopping and kept listening on our drive to and from the gym each week. We LOVED it. I love a good memoir narrated by its author and Henry Winkler has always seen like such a sweet and genuine guy. This books was laugh out loud funny at times and it was so fun to hear about his childhood and his rise to fame and beyond. 

 9. Down a Dark Road (Kate Burkholder #9) by Linda Castillo--  In this book Kate Burkholder ends up being held hostage along with 5 other children when an escaped convict comes back to Painter's Mill and his family to prove his innocence. Joseph King was accused of killing his wife and sent to prison, when Kate learns that he has escaped she's mildly concerned he might try to come see his children but most law officials believe he'll head for the border. Kate grew up next door to Joseph and has had a hard time reconciling the boy she knew with the man she's reading out in old case files. Once she's trapped in the house with him she begins to question his innocence and digs deeper into his case. I read this book in just 2 days because I really wanted to know what the real story was!

10. Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto (book #2 in the series)-- I love most of Jesse's books and I loved the first Vera Wong book so I was thrilled when this came in at the library. Vera is at the police station reporting a crime when she stumbles upon a sad and scared young lady. Vera talks her into coming for tea and gets her to pour out her whole sad story-- her boyfriend has been missing and no one knows what happened to him. Vera starts to investigate and despite lots of lies of omission from everyone along the way, she is able to piece together what happened to Xander/Thomas/John Doe. I honestly enjoyed this book more than the first and was struck by the author's note in the back talking about what parts weren't really made up for this story. 

11. Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding by Lian Dolan-- I found this book in an adorable bookshop when I was in Newport, RI and just could not resist buying it. Oh, I just loved it! Abigail and Alexa are the groom and bride's mothers and while they are trying their best to keep the peace and bow down to wishes of the bride and groom they aren't 100% sure about the wedding at first. With one family from old money on the east coast and the other from California by way of Greece at first it seems like they'd have nothing at all in common. Told from alternating points of view from both of the moms it was a fun read and working together they really do save the wedding and manage to both make lots of new friends along the way.  

12. You Make It Feel Like Christmas by Sophie Sullivan-- Nothing like a little Christmas in July! I received this book as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) from NetGalley and it will be released September 23rd just in time for some fun holiday reading and gift giving. I have loved the other books I read by Sophie so I was thrilled to get this copy. Pro hockey player Nick is injured and feeling down on himself after acting horribly the morning after a one night stand. He decides to head to his sister's Christmas tree farm for some family fun. Maisie has never regretted her decision to become a photographer and can't wait to spend a week at a fun tree farm wit her family... until she spies Nick there, her one regret. Nick hopes the forced proximity will earn him a second chance. It was an adorable holiday romance with a fabulous cast of characters. 

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